Back in February, Trilogy Hotels CEO Scott Boyes shared his insights with HM Magazine on the hotel landscape and the outlook for the year ahead.
Trilogy Hotels Operator Outlook
The past year has confirmed just how amazing and exciting the Australian hotel market has become, and Trilogy Hotels is excited to play our role in promoting change in our wonderful industry. As international travel returns in full force and domestic demand remains strong, owners, teams, and guests are all leaning into a new era of growth, opportunity, and possibility.
Looking back at 2025
Across Australia, hotel performance strengthened again in 2025, with major cities recording solid gains in occupancy, rate and RevPAR on the back of significant events and a full calendar of leisure and corporate travel. For Trilogy Hotels, that backdrop supported a rapid ramp-up of our platform, with a growing portfolio of managed hotels now spanning over 15 hotels and more than 3,000 rooms across multiple global brands.
This scale has enabled us to demonstrate the value of an independent management model that is laser-focused on EBITDA, owner alignment, and on-the-ground agility. Owners are increasingly looking for partners who can move quickly, make local decisions, and still tap into the power of big brands via franchise – that is precisely the gap Trilogy Hotels was created to fill.
Development hotspots and opportunities
On the back of a strong level of growing demand through broader Sydney, Western Sydney has become one of the most compelling hotel investment stories in the country, and it is a core focus for Trilogy Hotels. With Western Sydney International Airport set to open in 2026 and major cultural and sporting infrastructure coming online, the region is poised to welcome millions of additional visitors, requiring thousands of new rooms over the coming years.
Beyond Greater Sydney, markets such as Brisbane, Perth, and key leisure destinations continue to post strong trading, creating opportunities for conversions, repositioning plays, and new-build select-service hotels. The common theme is that owners seek flexible structures that protect returns in a higher-cost environment while still delivering an elevated and appropriate guest experience and value, as room rates continue to rise.
Travel trends reshaping demand
Three trends are standing out across our portfolio.
- Experience‑led travel is no longer niche; guests want local stories, thoughtful F&B and an authentic connection with place.
- Bleisure is firmly established, driving longer lengths of stay and stronger demand for shoulder nights, particularly in gateway and event cities. Longevity v traditional wellness is also a theme playing out for leisure stays.
- Sustainability and value are at the forefront of travellers’ minds, with travellers rewarding hotels that are transparent about their environmental impact, service promise, and overall value proposition.
These shifts play directly to the strengths of an agile manager who can tailor concepts and outcomes on an asset-by-asset basis. At Trilogy Hotels, we believe in and deliver individual focus, attention, and strategy, while leveraging global brand and distribution platforms to provide the best possible outcomes for owners, teams, and guests.
2026 challenges and how we’ll respond
Looking into 2026, there are some headwinds alongside the incredible optimism. Wage and compliance pressures remain elevated, new supply will be added into some markets faster than demand, and global economic uncertainty is likely to test both rate growth and financing conditions.
Trilogy Hotels’ answer is to double down on three things:
1) Smarter use of data to make practical and effective real-time decisions to optimise mix, price and value;
2) Disciplined cost management that protects guest experience; and
3) Deep investment in our people so that service levels remain a genuine point of difference.
By keeping decision-making close to the asset and empowering hotel leaders, we can respond more quickly than traditional models when market conditions shift.
The changing management landscape
Australia is embracing third-party and white-label management, similar to that of North America and Europe, which have been doing so for years. Brands are increasingly comfortable separating franchise operations from day-to-day activities, and owners are seeing the benefits of having an independent advocate at the table who is wholly aligned with the owner’s outcomes.
This evolution is beneficial for the entire ecosystem: brands can expand their footprint, owners gain transparency and control, and talented hotel teams have clearer career pathways within high-performance operating platforms. Trilogy Hotels’ goal is to be the partner of choice in that space – measured not by how many flags we fly, but by the returns, culture and guest advocacy we help create.
Outlook and what’s next
With international visitation forecasted to surpass pre-pandemic levels over the next two years, and with major infrastructure such as Western Sydney International coming online, the medium-term outlook for Australian hotels is exceptionally positive.
Trilogy Hotels will continue to build its footprint in Australia and other maturing markets. We will focus on the markets we have a desire to be in and explore appropriate international expansion. In all cases, we want to be where our model can genuinely scale with quality and add value to our stakeholders.
Above all, our priority is to continue delivering for the three groups that matter most to us: our owners, our teams, and our guests. If 2025 was about proving the strength of our platform, 2026 will be about scaling that impact – hotel by hotel, market by market, with a relentless focus on partnership and performance.
